Volunteering doesn't just improve your mood, it also boosts brain-power and strengthens your body. The 65.4 million Americans who volunteer, 42% of whom are over age 55, are garnering feel-good benefits. "Volunteering keeps people mentally active; it keeps their weight in check, their heart healthy, and their memory sharp" says Sharon Brangman, MD, chief of geriatrics at the SUNY Upstate Medical University at Syracuse. "Essentially, it's a drug-free way to keep you feeling young."

Thousands of volunteers receive more than satisfaction from their community work. People who volunteer regularly have a high sense of well-being, which improves their health and life expectancy. Australian National University social analyst Richard Eckersley says volunteering could be the secret to long life and happiness. "People who gave volunteering as their main area of work came out top in terms of their satisfaction with life overall," he said.

We survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant. They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes. Then, after that trauma, we were put to bed on our tummies in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-based paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, childproof latches on doors or cabinets, and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets.

We rode in cars with no car seats, booster seats, seat belts or air bags. Riding in the back of a pickup truck on a warm day was always a special treat.

We drank water from the garden hose. We shared one soft drink with four friends, drinking from the same bottle and no one actually died from this.

We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank koolade made with sugar, but we weren't overweight because we were always outside playing! We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on. No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After crashing a few times, we learned to solve the problem.

We did not have Playstations, Nintendos, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVDs, no surround-sound or CDs, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or chat rooms. We had friends and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.

We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them!

Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!

We took the unbelievable risks of hitchhiking, got rides with strangers, and didn't get murdered or molested.

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!

These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever! The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all!

If YOU are one of US, congratulations! You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated so much of our lives allegedly for our own good. And while you are at it, show it to your kids so they will know how brave (and lucky) their parents were.